NFC Champions
Seattle Seahawks
It has been a few days, yet the shock of the NFC Championship Game, particularly the ending, has not really fully worn off for either the winners or the losers of that contest.
You just do not see many games quite like that, when one team is playing extremely poorly throughout, until the final two or so minutes, when they suddenly come alive to overcome a big deficit to win the game.
On some levels, it kind of reminded me of another sport altogether, when Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers kept on killing the Knicks in shocking ways in the playoffs for all of those years. You never knew what was going to happen between those two teams.
It occurred to me that it is beginning to be the same way between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers. These are two teams that have an interesting history together, and they keep having some strange games together, as well.
It started in the late nineties, when Mike Holmgren, the successful head coach for the Green Bay Packers, who went to a couple of Super Bowls during his tenure, and won one as well. But he departed Green Bay for greener pastures in Seattle, and whenever those teams met after that, including a playoff meeting, the intensity level went up a couple of notches.
Still, for the most part, the Packers got the better of that rivalry. There were a couple of unique snow games between the two teams as well. One in Seattle during the regular season, where it does not snow all that often. Once in Green Bay during the playoffs, which again, the Packers won. That game was highlighted by an unorthodox pass by Brett Favre that became an instant highlight reel, as he kind of shuttle passed the ball while falling to the snow covered field, to add that much more of an element of drama to it.
But the rivalry began to turn in favor of the Seahawks in a big way, starting a couple of seasons ago, when they met on Monday Night Football in Seattle. The Packers had pretty much dominated that game, too, although it was not reflected on the scoreboard. It came to the final seconds, and Russell Wilson threw a pass up which was caught be Percey Harvin for a touchdown officially, but which realistically was intercepted by a Packers defender. Two different scab refs gave two different calls, and it went to the review booth. Ultimately, it was called a touchdown for Seattle, effectively earning the highly controversial game for Seattle. Most people, myself included, felt that the Packers had been cheated.
They would not meet again until opening day this season, but there really were no controversies in that contest. Seattle, fresh off their dominating Super Bowl title, started the season right where they had left off last season, as they physically beat down and intimidated a Packers team that was clearly not ready to stand up to such a challenge yet. It earned the Seahawks home field advantage for the all-important NFC Championship Game this past Sunday, which will likely be the most memorable of all the games between these two teams.
You know what happened. Green Bay was killing the Seahawks in every way, making it look easy. Only, that was not reflected on the scoreboard nearly as much as it should have been. Despite complete dominance, the Packers were only up 16-0 at the half. When Seattle scored a touchdown, the crowd roared to life, energy surged throughout the building, and the Seahawks were back in it.
Yet, even then, the Packers were good enough to hold Seattle off. They got another field goal to expand their lead again to 19-7. Seattle desperately tried to rally, and an interception , Wilson's fourth of the game, with roughly four minutes left, seemed to ice it in favor of Green Bay. The defending champions looked dead in the water, having been dominated for roughly 58 minutes of the game.
Then, the last two minutes of regulation, and basically a few brief plays in overtime, and the Seahawks were unstoppable. They could do no wrong, and the Packers, quite suddenly, could do no right.
It was one of the most shocking outcomes, and stunning reversals of fortune late in any NFL game, and it came not only in a playoff contest, but with an appearance in the Super Bowl on the line.
Improbable as it may seem, even in retrospect, the Seahawks had to overcome a 12-point deficit with just a little over two minutes left in the game, when most everybody in the stadium and watching the game on television assumed that the game was over.
Somehow, the Seahawks managed to get a touchdown, then recover an onside kick, then score yet another touchdown, then get a two-point conversion. To their credit, Green Bay managed to move the ball down the field and get a field goal to force overtime.
But the Packers never touched the ball in overtime, which is likely to stir more controversy over the overtime rules. Why should a coin flip determine who wins the game?
It certainly was crucial for Seattle on Sunday, as they quickly, in just a few plays, went down the field and scored a miracle touchdown before an electrified home crowd. The Seahawks are back in the Super Bowl! They became only the second team in history to overcome a deficit of 12 points with just a little over two minutes left to play, and the first team since the Dallas Cowboys in 1972, who were down 28-16 to the 49ers with even less time (they had only 1:20 left in the game) but, somehow, managed to score twice to win the game, 30-28! That was over 40 years ago, though. The Seahawks just managed a similar feat just few days ago!
So, the Seahawks are in once again, and the Packers suffer yet another terrible defeat to an NFC West opponent in the playoffs. They have lost a disproprortionate amount of times to NFC West teams since "The Catch 2" in the 1998-99 season. Three times they have been knocked out by the 49ers, once by the Rams, once by the Cardinals, and now, the Seattle Seahawks. Specifically, they have been knocked out of the playoffs by NFC West opponents four times during the Aaron Rodgers era. Four times in the last six seasons. During that span, they have not managed to win a single playoff game against an NFC West opponent.
The challenge for them now is how to toughen up, likely both mentally and physically, to be able to stand up to the physicality of those NFC West opponents. Against the rest of the divisions in the NFL in the playoffs (including the Steelers of the AFC), they are 6-1 during that same time span. They have the entire off-season to try and figure something out.
Seattle, in the meantime, has one opponent left this season. One opponent left in the way of a huge accomplishment in history. The Seahawks have a chance to win back-to-back titles, and to join a very select group of teams to have accomplished that feat historically. They physically dominated their playoff opponents last year to win their first Super Bowl. But this year, they relied on a miracle finish to carry them to an unlikely chance for another title shot!
Seattle's comeback still hard for everyone to fathom By TIM BOOTH (AP Sports Writer), January 19, 2015:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/seattles-comeback-still-hard-everyone-fathom-235622085--nfl.html
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